Binx and Nick

Some of the similarities of Binx Boling and Nick Adams are:

a. Both witnessed and experienced wars - Binx, the Korean war and Nick, the World War II -but the wars were not the ultimate struggle in their lives but their search of who they are.

b. Both are uncertain of who they are and where they belong. In The Moviegoer, Binx constantly talks about his aunts, uncles, and cousins but it seems that he is not emotionally attached to them which is ironic because usually, people feel belongingness in their family/home. Also, he considered it important to identify himself with a fraternity when he was a freshman. He became a part of one, was happy about it and in the year book, that was the only known thing about him. It seems like he doesn't have his own identity. Also, he states how he prefers riding buses than cars because riding a car makes him invisible to people. He feels so proud and happy having an identification card and such documents, "...so to speak, one's right to exist." He seems overjoyed that somehow he has been identified. As with Nick, the biggest influences in his life, his mother and father, have contrasting beliefs which makes it hard for him to identify himself with them. He follows his friends advice about Marge and have second-thoughts on it. He goes to places to search for something he cannot find within himself.

c. Both find comfort in activities they usually do. Binx enjoys watching movies because he says that in movies, the actors are usually in search for something which could mirror him in search for something as well. He frequently attempts to answer questions and to explain things as if he was the director of her life - he seems to enjoy doing so. Nick enjoys fishing so much. He fished with Marge, with Bill, and by himself. Fishing seems to take the problems in his life off his mind, at least for a while.

d. Both prefer to search for "something" by themselves, or alone and they both find peace in nature. Binx decides to move to Gentilly all by himself. Gentilly is a middleclass suburb and it hardly resembles the modern New Orleans. The place, according to him, is a peaceful one which is why he prefers to live there are do business there. In the Big Two-Hearted River, Nick comes back to Seney after the war. He camps out all by himself and then goes fishing. Reading his thoughts, especially his detailed observation of the littlest things in nature, it is as if he was searching for peace, comfort, and freedom from nature.